The AFL has dropped all charges against Essendon club Doctor Bruce Reid.

Bruce Reid. Source: HeraldSun

THE AFL yesterday dropped all charges against Essendon club doctor Bruce Reid in a backflip that put a sensational full stop to footys doping scandal.

The decision killed off Reid’s Supreme Court challenge — where he was due today to seek to have his charges tested in an open forum.

The league released a statement saying Reid had been ``marginalised’’ by club figures.

"The AFL accepts Dr Reid’s position and withdraws all charges against him, without penalty,’’ the statement said.

Reid was one of four Essendon officials charged along with the club over governance failings relating to the 2012 supplements program.

He was a central figure in the program and had informally approved the use of WADA-banned drug AOD-9604.

But he also penned a letter to club bosses in January last year in which he said he had “fundamental problems” with the supplements program.

In a negotiated settlement, Essendon was last month dumped from the finals, stripped of draft picks and fined $2 million.

Coach James Hird accepted a 12-month band while football boss Danny Corcoran was banned for four months and senior assistant coach Mark Thompson fined $30,000.

Charges against Reid say he made no inquires with ASADA about whether AOD-9604 was prohibited.

The charges also allege Reid became aware that sports scientist Stephen Dank and fitness boss Dean Robinson had breached an agreed supplements protocol but had failed to properly respond.

In dropping the charges against Reid yesterday, the AFL released a statement which read in part: “Reid strongly supports the AFL in its fundamental priority of looking after the health and welfare of players. He shares its concern over the serious circumstances which gave rise to the supplements saga at the Essendon Football Club.

“Reid has always had the health of the players as his first priority over his 30 years as a club doctor.

“However, the failures of governance of the club’s high performance unit resulted in him being marginalised with information being kept from him by those in control of the program. It is absolutely clear he has always shared the longstanding stance of the AFL that football must have a drug-free culture.”

The statement said Reid would take four months leave from Essendon before resuming duties in 2014.

When Reid rejoins Essendon next year, he will work to a beefed up AFL anti-doping code with includes new protocols that go above and beyond WADA’s powers.

Among the changes are strict rules around injections — only the club doctor may keep needles or injectables and injections will be permitted only for the treatment of legitimate medical conditions.

ASADA’s investigation into Essendon remains open — and players who were under Reid’s care could yet be handed infraction notices if new evidence comes to light.

Doping charges against individual players have been considered unlikely on current evidence because poor record keeping means investigators have been unable to establish which players were given what supplements when and by whom.

THE LETTER DR REID SENT JAMES HIRD AND FORMER FOOTBALL MANAGER PAUL HAMILTON IN JANUARY 2012

Dear James/Paul

I have some fundamental problems being club doctor at present. This particularly applies to the administration of supplements. Although we have been giving supplements for approximately three months, despite repeated requests as to exactly what we are giving our players and the literature related to this, have at no time been given that until last Sunday [15 January 2012]. Last week the players were given subcutaneous injections, not by myself, and I had no idea that this was happening and also what drug was involved.

It appears to me that in Sydney with Rugby League the clubs do not answer to the governing body (e.g. A.F.L.). It seems that their whole culture is based on trying to beat the system as are close to the edge as one can. It is my belief in A.F.L. that we should be winning flags by keeping a drug free culture.

It is all very well to say this is not banned and that is not banned but for example, the injection that we have given our players subcutaneously, was a drug called AOD/9604, is an Oligomeric Peptide. This drug is derived from the growth hormone.

This molecule has been constructed so it has removed what we call IGF1, which is part of the growth hormone that causes muscle and organ growth and bone length and photosynthesis.

It is at the moment used for fat metabolism but also bone strength in children and may have some side effects that may be beneficial in bone growth. This to me just seem ludicrous at this stage where the only trials I have got are on how to lost weight and fat around the abdomen.

If we are resorting to deliver this altered growth hormone molecule, I think we are playing at the edge and this will read extremely badly in the press for our club and for the benefits and also for side effects that are not known in the long term, I have trouble with all these drugs.

I am still not sure whether AOD/9604 is approved by the drug authorities in Australia at this stage. Just because it is not classified as illegal, doesn’t mean that it can be used freely in the community, it cannot. The other interesting thing about AOD/9604, is that its market in America is in body builders. This also should raise a red flag if we are worried about perception.

When it comes to Actovegin, this has been used around the world for many years. There is some flimsy evidence that it may help in speeding up the healing of tendons when they are damaged, though after speaking to radiologists, the recent opinion is that platelets and one’s own blood, probably does a better job.

We are claiming that we should use it as a recovery agent. To me it seems ludicrous that a few mls of calf’s blood spun down, is going to give you a concentration of growth factors and other factors that would speed up recovery.

I am very frustrated by this and now feel I am letting the club down by not automatically approving of these things. I need to collect my thoughts as these drugs have been given without my knowledge.

I am sure Steve Danks believes that what we are doing is totally ethical and legal, however, one wonders whether if you take a long stance and look at this from a distance, whether you would want your children being injected with a derivative hormone that is not free to the community and whether calf’s blood, that has been used for many years and is still doubted by most doctors, is worth pursuing.

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